An Apology

Dear Readers,

I must apologize for my lack of posting the past few weeks. Truth be told, I'm not sure if I want to continue this blog, seeing as I currently do not have a position for the fall (for the third time). I guess time will tell.

Have a great summer,

Ms.S

Hair

Over the weekend, I finally had the chance to change my hairstyle. In case you didn't know, one of my many quirks involves me changing my hair pretty often. I love to try on new looks and play around with the image/ persona that they present. However, due to circumstances beyond my control, I haven't changed my hair at all this year. All my kids know me as a teacher with black hair cut in a short, stacked style with sweepy bangs.

Until today.

My kids were shocked to see me new waist length curls with red highlights. In fact, they were speechless. But being kindergarteners that didn't last too long.

"What happened to you?"   and "I thought you were a new teacher!" and "Ms.S, your hair!" soon led into to questions of "How did you do that?" and "Did you dye your hair?"

They could not keep their eyes off of me, or my hair, the entire morning. It was quite comical.

Imagine the even bigger shock to find out that 4 others in our class got new hairstyles too!

Talk about a great hair day!
I LOVE my job!

Update: Sold

The ongoing saga about the sale of my school has reached it's apex.

Tonight , against the wishes of many concerned parents, our BOE voted to approve the bids and finalize the sale of two schools in our district. One of those two schools is my school. It's been a long time coming, a necessary evil in the midst of the current economic situation in our state/country. In the interests of everyone involved, the students especially,   the BOE selected the bids that would give the district the option to lease our schools back for a nominal fee for the next few years, giving us all time to make the transition.

So there you have it. We will be there for a few more years, but eventually, we will close and be consolidated into another school.

However still no word on the job front.

Even in the midst of difficult circumstances...I love my Job

I've been kinda busy....Sorry!

I know I haven't posted in a while, but it has been down right hectic around here.

Between catching up from snow days, weekend professional development workshops, and meetings... meetings... MEETINGS, I've gotten a little behind. So I will catch you up:

• Thanks to the switch from a day-based school year to an hours based school year, plus the added time from the beginning of the year, our students do not have to make up any instructional time. However, teacher contracts are still day based, so we do.
• The past five weekends I've had the opportunity to attend Payne reading training, for FREE, thanks to our State DOE. It's been totally awesome (you get all the tools to implement what you learned FREE), and I'd recommend it to any person who teaches on the Elementary level. 
• One of my tiny tots had to have surgery on his leg last week, but has made such an awesome recovery! He was back in school to day, walking (but still taking it easy), and we were all glad to have him back.
• Our BOE had a specially called meeting tonight to vote on selling 3 pieces of surplus property, one of which is where I currently teach. They voted a unanimous yes, and we find out all the details tomorrow.

Now, I don't want to leave you on a downer, so here is a funny story from last week.

I get called out of my lunch by another teacher who is on lunch duty about one of my tiny tots who dumped his milk into his tray. While we had a discussion about his choice and the ramifications of such an action she brings me ANOTHER one of my tots who ATE HER PEACHES. She had set them down to come talk to me, and when she came back to them, there he was, eating her peaches. When asked about it, he knew he didn't make a good choice, but did it anyway. He apologized, and sat down to finish the rest. We couldn't do anything but laugh.

I love my job.

A Teacher's Heart

Warning, the following is not a light-hearted/ funny post. This is real bidness ya'll:

So, the last week before winter break, the bond issue we so desperately need was voted on by the patrons of our district. The basic premise is this:

Bond passes= close schools, consolidate and build new schools, minimal loss of jobs and programs, rainbows, unicorns, and happy fairy dust.

Bond fails=close schools, consolidate in old schools,200+ people lose their jobs, higer class size, plague of locuts, and weeping and gnashing of teeth.

In our state, the law says a bond has to pass with 60% yes vote. Ours failed with a 59.93% yes vote. Once the numbers were crunched, it came down to a difference of 15 votes. 15!

So now, we are looking at rift in faculty and staff that could go as high as 6 years. It's depressing, and hard, and many have shed tears over it.

But I have to say, this is my third year of teaching, and the third year that I don't know if I will have a job next year. For years, we've been told of teacher shortages, (which at some level is still a problem) and that education is a safe, secure profession, yet I've had to change schools every year because I my lack of tenure/budget cuts.

I want to teach. If I could have all my bills paid for me, I'd do it for free. Teaching is not a job, it's a calling; a calling to make a difference, to change the future. So it hurts my heart to see the sad state of education, not only in my district, but at the state and national level as well. Why are we letting go of those who are called to positively impact the lives of children?  Why will I, and several other colleagues, have to start looking for work in the middle of a recession that is probably outside our field of study?Why is education important enough to talk about, but not important enough to fund?

I love my job. Why can't I keep it?

Change

I have been reassigned to a different school and different grade. I am not quite sure what will happen with this blog, but I hope to be back in kindergarten soon!

Moving

Today was the last day for a little girl in our class today; she and her family are moving 2 hours away. She didn't want to leave, and we didn't want to lose her. It was a melancholy touch to a spectacular Fun Friday. We had a blast in the new Dress-up Center, rocked out to new songs, played and imagined in Free Centers, but every so often this little girl would walk up and hug me, or hug a friend, trying to make a memory. So at the end of the day, inspired by another teacher blog, I took one of our reading buddies (stuffed animals) and passed it around on the carpet. I explained that we were going to fill it with hugs to give to our friend who is moving away; when she misses us, she can hug the animal and feel our hugs. My students were delighted, and told the bunny "I miss you" and gave it huge squeezes. When we presented it to our departing friend, she squeezed it tight and smiled. We dismissed with lots of hugs and goodbyes, but oddly enough, not tears. It makes me sad that these little hearts have learned to say goodbye so early in life. But then, that's life. Hellos and goodbyes and all the good times in between.